Bertrand Clauzel

Bertrand Clauzel M.F.
Born	(1772-12-12)12 December 1772 Mirepoix, County of Foix, France
Died	21 April 1842(1842-04-21) (aged 69) Haute-Garonne, France
Allegiance	France
Years of service	1791–1837
Rank	Marshal of France
Battles / wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic War Peninsular War Battle of Salamanca French conquest of Algeria

Bertrand, Comte Clauzel (French pronunciation: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ kɔ̃t klozɛl]; 12 December 1772 – 21 April 1842) was a French soldier who served in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He saw service in the Low Countries, Italy, and Spain, where he achieved short periods of independent command. He became a Marshal of France under the Orléans monarchy following the July Revolution and served them twice as Governor of French possessions in Algeria during the French conquest period.

When asked on Saint Helena which of his generals was the most skilful, Napoleon named Clauzel along with Louis-Gabriel Suchet and Étienne Maurice Gérard.

Military career during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Early Military Career 1791-1809

Bertrand Clauzel was born on 12 December 1772 in Mirepoix, in the County of Foix there he joined the Mirepoix national guard before enlisting in the 43rd Infantry as one of the volunteers of 1791. He saw service in the first campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Having distinguished himself repeatedly on the northern frontier (1792–1793) and in the eastern Pyrénées (1793–1794), Clauzel was made a chef de battalion and given the honour of bringing twenty four flags taken from the Spanish back to Paris to present to the National Convention.

In 1798 Clauzel he became the chief of staff to General Grouchy, in which role he negotiated the abdication of the King of Sardinia in December 1798. In 1799 Clauzel as he was promoted to général de brigade In this rank, he served in Italy in 1798 and 1799, during which he won great distinction at the Battle of Trebbia and the Battle of Novi. In 1800 he took command of the 4th Division under General Suchet and during the campaign that spring he seized the tower of the redoubts of Melogno and participated in the attack on Monte-San-Giacomo. Months later in December he fought at Pozzolo.

In 1802, he served in the expedition to Saint-Domingue. He became a Divisional General in December 1802, and after his return to France, he was in almost continuous service there until 1806 when he was sent to the army of Naples. Soon after this, Napoleon made him a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. In 1808–1809, he was with Auguste de Marmont in Dalmatia, and at the close of 1809, he was appointed to a command in the Army of Portugal under André Masséna.

Peninsular campaigns of 1810–1812

Clauzel commanded a division in the Army of Portugal during the Peninsular War of 1810–1812, including the Torres Vedras campaign. Under Marmont, he re-established the discipline, efficiency, and mobility of the army, which had suffered severely in the retreat from Torres Vedras.

Salamanca: "a grand attempt to retrieve the battle"

At the Battle of Salamanca, Clauzel's division initially positioned behind the French left wing. However, after the rout of Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières's division, it advanced to reinforce the faltering line. With both Marmont and Jean Pierre François Bonet wounded, Clauzel, as the most senior officer available, assumed command of the French forces.

Clauzel assumed command amidst challenging circumstances. Marmont's attempt to flank had exposed divisions led by Thomières and Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune to an Anglo-Portuguese assault. According to Lewis Butler, Clauzel's subsequent actions constituted "a grand attempt to retrieve the battle".

The battlefield was characterized by two small hills, the lesser and the greater Arapiles. The lesser Arapile was situated at the heart of the Anglo-Portuguese army's position, while the greater Arapile occupied a central position in the French army's deployment. Both hills served as crucial points, securing the flanks of each army's formations. Clauzel's strategy aimed to counter the attack on his left flank by launching an assault on the Anglo-Portuguese center to capture the lesser Arapile.

However, his offensive proved unsuccessful as it was met with staunch resistance from fresh enemy troops, resulting in disarray among the French forces and leaving them vulnerable to subsequent assaults on their left and center. The battle culminated in a resounding defeat for the French, with Butler noting that the engagements had rendered the divisions of Maucune, Thomières, and Clauzel incapable of functioning as cohesive military units.

The Castile Campaign

The retreat from Salamanca posed significant challenges due to the substantial losses suffered by the French army. Initially, Foy's division, the only French unit relatively unscathed, provided cover as the rear guard. However, it suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of García Hernández.

Clauzel managed to salvage what remained of the Army of Portugal as he retreated north of Burgos. Nevertheless, he found himself besieged by Wellington before he could regroup his forces. With reinforcement from General Souham, Clauzel resumed divisional command in the subsequent campaign, resulting in Wellington's retreat to Badajoz. Despite Wellington's return to his initial position, Clauzel's costly defeat at Salamanca compelled French forces in Spain to focus their efforts against Wellington, leading to the liberation of Andalusia, Extremadura, and Asturias by Spanish forces.

The rest of the War of the Sixth Coalition

In early 1813, Clauzel assumed command of the Army of the North in Spain. During the Battle of Vitoria, he was a day's march away and unable to aid Jourdan, leading to defeat. Under the supreme command of Jean-de-Dieu Soult, he continued to serve throughout the rest of the Peninsular War seeing action at major battles Nivelle, Orztez and Toulouse but personally securing a minor French victory at Aire.

A turmoilous political life

Changing loyalties and exile

Following the Bourbon restoration in 1814, he reluctantly submitted to the restored monarchy but swiftly joined Napoleon upon his return to France. Throughout the Hundred Days, he held command along the Pyrenes however no major battles occurred on this front before Napoleon surrendered. Despite Waterloo and Napoleons surrender, he adamantly refused to acknowledge the restored government and fled to the United States, where he was condemned to death in absentia. He settled in the Vine and Olive Colony in Alabama, later returning to France after the venture failed.

He seized the first opportunity to return and assist the Orléanist Liberals in France when we was pardoned in 1820, serving in the Chamber of Deputies for a region in the Ardennes from 1827 to 1830, he sat on the left and voted for the Address of the 221 which expressed disapproval at the ultra royalist administration. Following the July Revolution of 1830, he promptly assumed a military command being appointed the Military Governor of Algiers.

Twice Governor in Algeria

Clauzel took over from the Legitimist General Louis-Auguste-Victor de Bourmont as leader of the invasion of Algeria. French forces had seized the ports of Oran and Bône but abandoned them on news of the July revolution in France. Clauzel oversaw their re-occupation but was unable to secure the immediate hinterland of Algiers against an insurgent rural population.

Clauzels a veteran of the war in Spain - characterised by insurgency and resistance attempted to steer French policy to avoid insurgency. This involved a political settlement between the French who would take over as suzerain over the Husaynid rulers of Tunis in a system similar to the status of Algiers under the Ottoman Empire just now with France as overlord.

Clauzels attempts collapsed, his actions lacking sanction from superiors in Paris and the arrival of a 500 man strong Tunisian contingent promoting unrest in Algerian cities.

Elsewhere Clauzel was an enthusiastic supporter of the first attempt at agricultural colonialism in Algeria, a model farm in the Mitidja which despite his support collapsed.

Simultaneous with his removal, he was appointed a Marshal of France in February 1831. For nearly four years thereafter, he advocated his Algerian policy to the Chamber of Deputies. By summer 1835 a uneasy truce had broken down and hostilties between France and Abd al-Qadir had erupted as Makhzen tribes from around Oran sought French protection. On June 28th a French column was surprised between the low hills around Maqta - a circumstance not dissimilar to the destruction of Thomières Division by Pakenham at Salamanca. The "disaster of Maqta promoted popular outrage in France and General Trèzel to be replaced by Clauzel who once again returned to North Africa.

Despite several triumphs, notably the capture of Mascara in December 1835, and then Tlemcen in January 1936 these quick victories were spoiled as Clauzel struggled to bring Abd al-Qadir to a pitched battle and also by political missteps with his imposition of a massive indemnity upon Tlemcen failed to turn his conquests into allies, the French presence in the Algerian hinterland remained extremely limited.

It took until the summer of 1836 for Clauzel to force a decisive battle against al-Qadirs forces, at the Sikkak river the French routed a ten thousand strong contingent of regulars and tribal warriors. Poor weather and determined resistance saw his 1836 attempt to seize Constantine fail. Public opinion turned on Clauzel, leading to his recall in February 1837.

Retirement

Upon his return, he retired from active service, vigorously defending his actions before the deputies before withdrawing from public life. He lived in retirement until his death at Château du Secourieu in Haute-Garonne.